Currently, many informational placards are required to be displayed and easily viewed through the windshield of parked vehicles for various reasons. Some placards, such as handicapped parking permits, are required by law to be displayed in a visible and easy way to identify the vehicle as being legally parked in its designated space. Other placards, such as media/press and delivery, are used to identify the purpose of a parked vehicle, and some other placards, such as in car shows and car lots, are used to display features of a parked vehicle.
In such cases, these placards are temporarily displayed, and since most of them are hung onto the post of the rearview mirror, they are required by law to be removed while the vehicle is in operation due to the danger associated with blocking the driver's line of sight. Since most of these placards are made from thin, rather fragile materials, displaying and removing them frequently will cause damage to them, especially under extremes of hot and cold that can be present throughout the seasons of the year. Also, removing a placard before driving may cause it to be lost since the driver may lay it down or store it in various places about the vehicle.
Prior art devices are exemplified by a Placard Support For Vehicle Visor disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,081 (Shedd; 2001) which requires that a base (16) be attached to a surface of a visor, for example using adhesively applied hook and loop attachment strips (18). Shedd's device also includes a pivot connection (24) between a corner of the base and a corresponding corner of the placard or preferably a placard retainer body (34) having one or more clips (22) which grasp the top portion of the placard. Thus there are two steps for displaying the placard: one is to pull down the visor, and a second step is to rotate the placard around the pivot.
Several disadvantages of devices such as Shedd's are apparent. Either the base or at least one side of the base attachment strips are permanently attached to the visor marring its appearance, and complicating installation of the device as well as requiring base attachments on every visor to which the user may wish to mount the placard while moving the placard from one car to another or from the driver's visor to the passenger's visor. Such an attachment is not practical for use in borrowed or leased vehicles, and adhesive attachment likely will not work on visors having uneven and/or fabric surfaces. Placards such as handicapped signs tend to curl and to become brittle under hot and cold conditions, thereby interfering with pivoting the placard across the parallel surface of the base. Shedd's retainer body grips only the top portion of the placard, thereby making it likely that the placard will slip from the retainer clips as the placard is pushed around the pivot. Also, the retainer body covers the view of the top portion of the placard, which may be a problem for placards that display information all the way to the top of the placard. Finally, the two step operation of positioning the placard for display is inconvenient.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive, easy to use placard display device for vehicles. The device should be easily moved from one vehicle or visor to another. Ease of use should involve only one action step to either display or hide the placard. The holder should enable easy insertion/removal of a variety of placard sizes and shapes. The placard should be removeably held in a transparent frame that will help prevent placard deterioration and that will display the informational graphics on at least one face of the placard.